1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system, a network system, an information managing method, and a record medium in which information processing steps are stored to be readable by a computer, which are applicable to, for example, digital copying machines and other apparatus capable of expansively accepting functions of facsimiles, printers, and electronic files, OCRs, networks, and others.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, for example, a functional expansion based upon the integration of the functions of a facsimile, a printer, an electronic file, an OCR or the like has been in progress. Additionally, such a digital copying machine agrees with a network system involving connections of a plurality of computers, and also has developed toward an apparatus a plurality of users can operate through their personal computers (which will hereinafter be referred to simply as PCs) and a network connected thereto.
Meanwhile, unlike conventional document management, in which documents are kept in binders or the like, electronic files (electronic filing systems) have contributed to the saving of space by virtue of the documents being written in a memory, such as a magneto-optical disk or the like (herein after “MO”).
In such electronic files, retrieval of a document the user wants depends upon the designation of a document name or a document number and, for example, in the case of the MEDIO digital cabinet produced by Canon Inc., a retrieval sheet is printed out when a document is recorded, and is read in when the same document is outputted the next time; in this way the document the user wants is fetched selectively from a plurality of documents recorded on one recording medium such as an MO. This permits users to retrieve the desired document easily.
In addition, because a changer drive, which can manage a plurality of recording mediums such as MOs, has come into widespread use, a file system capable of managing a large volume of information has showed up. Also, as information retrieving methods for use in a filing system, there have been known various methods, including the techniques of: users making the retrieval directly through an operating section; retrieving information in accordance with a retrieval request sheet from a facsimile; and retrieving information through the use of a PC on a network.
However, in the aforesaid filing system or the like enabling the management of a large volume of information and allowing the various retrieving methods, difficulty has been encountered in preserving the confidential of the information as desired.
Concretely, in general, before the operation by which the users retrieve information, the input of a password is necessary. Additionally, in an information processing system such as a digital copying machine having a plurality of functions such as facsimile, printer, electronic file, OCR and others, selection as to whether a password is required (“setting”, “no setting”), is made function by function. That is, passwords can also be set for some functions, which then are usable subject to the input of the correct password, while passwords need not be required for other functions. In the case of a function (or apparatus) requiring the input of a password, users can use it freely if once they learn the password. This signifies that any users who were at the operating position at one point in time, can still use the function (apparatus) as long as they remember the password, even if for example they have since lost their operating qualification (right to use that function or apparatus) due to change of work, transfer, retirement or the like. Accordingly, particularly, in a system for managing documents in which secret documents may be handled, there is a possibility that disqualified users (users who have lost their operating qualification but who remember the password) can access the secret documents.